I broke mine and was in the Alps 3 weeks later. The plaster cast kept everything secure and I could still hold on to the bars ok. The cast rubbed right through the grip though and I was lucky only to have one fall all week. If you can hold on to the bars some easy singletrack or road is always an option.

Guess I must be one of the few folks where everything went smoothly? 6 weeks (I think) in the cast, another 4 or so with the splint afterwards, but since then it’s been pretty much fine. No pain on the bike or in normal day to day stuff. Did have to cancel my trip to the Alps though 🙁

Mine healed fine really – I’ve had a few times where it’s felt sore in the intervening years, but never to any serious level or where it’s stopped me doing anything. Immediate physio as soon as you are able is apparently the order of the day, but tbh I didn’t do this other than riding my bike.

Do recall the cast coming off and it hurting like a bstard, first bit of movement into it after weeks immobilised feels pretty sharp.

Snapped my left one & resulted in an operation & 3 pins this time last year.
Eat your greens, take some cod liver supplements, use the turbo & enjoy le tour !
A year on I’m not too bad, not got 100% rotation in it & like bregante says, mine hurts like hell on cold days & clicks like a MF
NHS Physio was surprisingly good, had some private Physio too which was s***
I do remember thinking when the cast came off, how the f am I ever going to use this again ?! My forearm had withered away, shoulder muscle all gone from being in a sling & my hand looked like a lobster claw.
Anyway, all ok now 😀
Good luck

OK, I may not get any response to this (as there may be no good news), I’ve already got my left wrist with a screw in and just broken my right. < 1mm fracture of the waist, non-displaced this time, last time was perilunate dislocation.

I know they are feckers to heal and was supposed to be spending summer in the Alps, now just hoping I can salvage something late season.

I’ve read all the bad, so please just give me your positive recovery stories and what you did while you were broken.

Currently hitting the turbo to get the blood pumping to the little fecker and eating healthy.

In the evening after I broke mine I went kayaking. Well I tried to, but it hurt too much so I gave up. Was back paddling a couple of weeks later, though had quite a bit of pain for several months and ongoing issues with strength and flexibility for a couple of years – it didn’t help that at the time my principle sport was canoe polo and it was my throwing hand.

A couple of years later after jarring it yet again and being in more pain I finally went to see a medical professional – both my GP and the doctor I saw in A&E didn’t think it could possibly be broken until the X-rays came back. I was somewhat surprised to leave hospital in a cast having driven there (at least in those days hospital car parks were free). That was on for a couple of weeks which helped settle it down, but it was too late for it to heal by itself so I was booked in for an op a couple of months later. Spent the night in hospital pre-op, got my wrist shaved etc. and then when the consultant did his pre-op rounds in the morning he decided that I’d actually be better off leaving it alone as it wasn’t generally that big a problem for me and he was worried he could do more harm than good. At this point the x-rays were showing cartilage around the malunion stabilising it.

Had some physio and was told I was likely to get arthritis by 30. Switched to paddling left handed (I actually did that a few weeks before the op as I figured I’d be paddling again quicker that way) which took a lot of the strain off, though I still throw right handed. The combination of looking after it much better meant it generally became pain free and much stronger, though I still only have about half the flexibility of the other wrist. 25 years on my scaphoid is still broken, but I don’t have arthritis or any sign it’s coming. Functionally I have very little problem with it though I choose to do some things left handed – which in a way is an advantage as apart from fine skills like writing I’m now fairly ambidextrous.

I’d not recommend following my course of not getting it treated for a couple of years, but it goes to show that it’s not a complete disaster even so.

I thought the docs were advising against full splinting these days as it slows down recovery? Whilst I didn’t break mine, thankfully just bad bruising, the docs said a change in practice was to keep it moving to an extend to help the blood flow back to the bone..

No good news stories here….I was told mine wasn’t broken and to wear an elasticated splint for a couple of weeks. 6 months later when in a lot of pain, a different consultant told me it had been broken and the bone has now fused back together (but not in the right place!!!). I’m holding off on the op for now (self employed – cant afford the time off) – I’ll wait until it gets really painful. I can still ride with a wrist brace on…and thats all that matters 😀